TORONTO – Whatever else you may say about them, the Red Sox will at least finish 2024 with a better record than they did in their last two seasons.
After a 78-84 record in 2022 and 2023, the Red Sox defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 on Monday night for their 79th win of the season with five games remaining. They need two more wins to avoid a losing season and three to record their first victory since 2021.
The win also allowed the Red Sox to avoid playoff elimination for at least another day. They remain 3.5 games back of the third wild-card spot in the American League.
With a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning, the Red Sox scored another run when Connor Wong walked, stole second base, advanced to third on a fielder’s decision and then scored on another. The Blue Jays thwarted the Sox’s attempt to score a run in the ninth inning with a single by Spencer Horwitz against reliever Chris Martin.
The Sox managed five scoreless innings from starter Tanner Houck, who showed no signs of shoulder weakness that had recently caused him to be moved further back in the rotation.
In fact, Houck was masterful despite not recording a single strikeout and instead relying on weak contact to work his way through Toronto’s lineup inning after inning, mostly throwing a lot of ground balls, resulting in nine groundouts in the first four innings.
After striking out the first 14 batters he faced, the Jays finally got a two-out walk and a follow-up single from Ernie Clement that ended any hopes of a no-hit. But Houck retired Jonatan Clase in the fifth inning for the final out. It would be his last batter after throwing 57 pitches.
Toronto starter Chris Bassitt, who limited Boston to a single run in 6.2 innings in late August, struggled with control from start to finish, allowing seven walks in 4.2 innings. But thanks to some baserunning errors and some problems with runners in scoring position (1-for-9), the Red Sox were unable to take full advantage.
However, they managed solo runs in the second, third and fourth innings, although there could have been more – and should have been.
The Sox’s breakthrough came in the second inning when Wilyer Abreu worked a leadoff walk, reached second base on an error by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., advanced to third base on a fielder’s decision, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Vaughn Grissom.
In the third, two consecutive two-out walks brought Abreu to bat, and he hit a double into the right field corner, where he scored Triston Casas from third base.
Nick Sogard opened the fourth inning with a double, and after advancing to third base on an error by Bassitt, he trotted home when Duran hit a double.
The series continues on Tuesday
Brayan Bello, who will likely make his final start of the season, will be looking for his 15th win in the middle game of the series. Bello has made decisions in each of his last seven games and won two of the last three.
His opponent is Bowden Francis, who has already had to accept a no-hitter at the Rogers Centre until the ninth inning twice this season, but was then stopped both times.
